Justice Emeka Nwite, in separate rulings on their no-case submission applications, held that a prima face case had been made out against Kyari and other police officers in the charge.

Kyari, the 1st defendant and a former head of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, of the Police was arrested on February 14, 2022, after the NDLEA declared him wanted over alleged links to an international drug cartel.

The suspended DCP and four members of the IRT – ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu are being prosecuted on charges of conspiracy to deal in 17.55kg of cocaine.

They are also accused of dealing in cocaine without lawful authority; conspiracy to tamper with cocaine and unlawfully tampering with the 21.35kg of cocaine seized from two convicted drug dealers.

On March 7, 2022, Kyari and others were arraigned alongside Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, the two suspected drug traffickers who were arrested at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu by the officers.

Upon arraignment, Kyari and four other defendants pleaded not guilty.

READ ALSO: MRA condemns NBC’s ban on ‘Tell Your Papa’

However, Umeibe and Ezenwanne, the 6th and 7th defendants, pleaded guilty and were convicted accordingly.

Although Kyari and others had, at one time, applied for bail, their application was rejected.

After the NDLEA closed its case, each of the defendants opted for a no-case submission, arguing that no evidence had been adduced by the prosecution on which the court could convict them.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Nwite held that with the state of evidence led so far by the prosecution, he was convinced that a prima facie case had been established against the defendants to require them to put forward their defence.

Justice Nwite held the same view in the five separate rulings he delivered on Friday.

In a ruling on Kyari’s application, the judge held that “assuming without conceding that the defendants were charged with less amount of cocaine that is lesser than 17.55 kg or more than that, it does not take away the fact that there is prima facie evidence that the 1st defendant dealt or tampered with cocaine.”

He held that the argument of the 1st defendant’s lawyer on the need to sufficiently prove the amount of cocaine on the face of the charge is not the requirement of the law.

He also held that there was nothing on the face of the section of the law, on which the defendants were charged, that states or provide different punishment as it relates to the quantity or amount of cocaine, whether the charge provides for 1 kilogram or more.

According to the judge, in view of the foregoing, I am of the view and I so hold that a prima facie case has been made out against the 1st defendant in the five count charge and I hereby order him to enter his defence in all the five counts.

The judge issued similar order in relation to the other four defendants.

He consequently adjourned the matter until May 21 for the defendants to open their defence.

Source: NAN

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It is a puzzle that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has dragged the 36 state governments to court to compel them to respect the autonomy of the 774 local governments, often touted, though erroneously, as the third tier of government and the government that is closest to the grassroots. That Tinubu has seemingly chosen the path of strengthening the existing Nigerian political structure or system contrary to the avalanche of cries for restructuring will baffle many.

It may appear that Tinubu is negating, nay, rubbishing, the very battle he waged – successfully – against President Olusegun Obasanjo when he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos State (1999 – 2007). After conducting a referendum and getting the endorsement of the state House of Assembly, Gov. Tinubu in April 2004 announced the creation of 37 additional local governments in Lagos, bringing the number of LGs to 57. The constitutionally-recognized local governments in Lagos State hitherto had been 20.

Obasanjo would have none of it. Yet, Tinubu would not back down. Obasanjo seized the Federally-allocated funds for Lagos state local governments. Tinubu took a step backward by designating his new local governments as “Local Government Development Areas” subsumed under the constitutionally-recognized 20 local governments. Obasanjo was not assuaged. Tinubu went to court and the matter dragged up to the Supreme Court. In the end, Tinubu won but Obasanjo would not be persuaded to let go of the Lagos State local government funds he had placed a lien on.

Tinubu was, thus, forced to ingeniously search for means to increase Lagos State’s internally-generated revenue. It remains to his eternal credit that he succeeded in doing that, setting the pace for Lagos to wean itself from dependence on federal allocation. The bad belly generated between Obasanjo and Tinubu as a result of that tango remains to this day. It was the government of President Umaru Yar’Adua, who succeeded Obasanjo, that obeyed the courts and ordered the release of the seized Lagos State LG funds – amounting to N10.8 billion – in July 2007.

Lessons learned include that of putting to test the principles of federalism or constitutional democracy. One is that the Federal Government (or the Centre) may not dictate or breathe down the neck of its constituent parts or federating units on matters concerning local administration.

Two: That the same system of local government administration cannot be imposed on a heterogeneous society like Nigeria, where there are over 370 nationalities with different languages, cultures, traditions, ways of life, economic and political systems, religions, etc. Even the colonial powers recognized and respected this basic fact in the system of government they imposed on the conquered peoples of Nigeria for the period they bore rule over them.

Three: that the command-and obey structure or unitary system of government imposed on Nigerians by successive military leaders, beginning with the first military coup of 1966, and which Obasanjo, himself an erstwhile military dictator, appeared to favour, could not be tolerated in a supposedly civilian federal system of government.

What, then, has changed since he stepped down as a two-term civilian governor of Lagos state that has made Tinubu to now step into the shoes and assume the same position as Obasanjo? Why seek to strengthen a local government system that is as oppressive and wasteful as it is unjust to a large section of the Nigerian polity? The present local government system is an aberration, to say the least. It is unitary in concept as well as in its implementation.

The same system cannot be expected to work uniformly all over the federation. Each segment of the country is unique and should be allowed to formulate, fashion out, and administer a local government system suitable to it. What the Tinubu administration seeks is an imposition and must be discarded for a truly federal system to emerge; to do otherwise is to enhance illogically.

READ ALSO: Boiling Point: Odidiomo, Farounbi discuss monarchs’ diminishing dignity

The question many are also asking is whether Tinubu as governor of Lagos allowed the local governments the kind of autonomy he is seeking for them now as the President! It is on record that Tinubu as governor took the Federal Government of Obasanjo to court on many occasions over this or that issue, testing the constitutionality of Obasanjo’s efforts to arm-twist the States. No other governor was that audacious against President Obasanjo. Will Tinubu stomach the same treatment from any of the governors? Shall we have at least one State governor able and willing to do unto Tinubu what he did to Obasanjo?

I agree no less with Professor Onigbinde! From experience, creation of LGs have not led to development at the grassroots; if anything, it has only democratized corruption, taking it from the top (FG) through the middle (State Governments) to the bottom (LGs) of the country’s leadership ladder!

The present local government system is not the only incongruous creation of the military that must be done away with. To start with, the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria by Lord Lugard to form what is now known as Nigeria was an imposition. There was no referendum or plebiscite allowed for the people under the two protectorates to determine whether or not they wanted the amalgamation. It was a “diktat”, pure and simple, imposed by the British colonialists for their own selfish reasons.

The agitations for self-rule by Nigerians, over which a civil war was fought, and over which some have, again, taken up arms, must now be respected. Let Nigerians decide whether or not they want a continuation of the Lugardian experiment, as some have described it, or they want a break-up; be it a “velvet divorce” along the lines of erstwhile Czechoslovakia or the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Sudan model.

Nigeria’s Constitutions, especially after those of 1960 and 1963, have been described as a fraud – and appropriately so – because they make claims that everyone knows to be patently false. They all started by saying “We the people (of Nigeria)” made those constitutions for ourselves when we did not. Our first military ruler, JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi, destroyed Nigeria’s federalism with his Unification Decree Number 34 of 1966; since then, all the states created by fiat by our military rulers cannot be regarded as “federating units” properly so-called but are mere “begging bowls” as my sister, Funke Egbemode, once described them.

Virtually all the states are weak and are not economically viable. In many cases, strange bedfellows have been lumped together and birds of a feather separated, giving rise to perpetual acrimony and animosity. One reason why we do not, and cannot, see the kind of economic development witnessed in the First Republic is because the states as we have them today are a far cry from the Regions of old.

Why restructuring is not top on President Tinubu’s agenda – seemingly – should baffle many; for that has been canvassed as the panacea to the myriad problems bedeviling the country. Professor Akinyemi Onigbinde’s position on the issue of federalism titled “Granting autonomy to Local Governments undermines federalism principles”, aligns with mine.

Hear the erudite professor: “In a federal system of government, such as the one we claim to be running, granting autonomy to local governments undermines the principles of federalism. Successive military leaders from certain sections of Nigeria have used their power to create local government areas in their regions, giving them demographic and fiscal advantages over other sections which provide the bulk of the fiscal resources that all tiers of government rely on. This autonomy is a subversion of federalism and should be rejected by all who value democracy within a federal system.

“In a true federal system, regions, provinces, or states are the federating units that create a central authority to achieve specific mutual benefits. Local government areas, which are created for administrative convenience, do not qualify as federating units and should not draw administrative costs from the federation account. In principle, they are unknown to the central authority as established by the federating units.

“While efforts should be focused on repairing our feudalistic unitary system disguised as federalism, we are instead dismantling the political architecture of the federal system by undermining the states’ authority over local governments. The argument that governors are misappropriating local government funds from the federation account does not justify dismantling the federal system. The neglect of local roads and other responsibilities of local governments is not solely due to state governors’ controlling funds, but also due to politicians’ general disregard for the welfare of the people and their tendency to prioritize personal gain.

“Even if local government funds were distributed directly to them, there is no guarantee that local government chairmen would not emulate the governors’ corrupt practices. This could lead to further fragmentation, with each political ward or village demanding direct allocations from the federation account.

“The issue of underdevelopment in local government areas is more about the politicians’ lack of accountability than the governors’ control over funds. Constituents must mobilize to hold their local leaders accountable, regardless of political party affiliations. Furthermore, while state governors are criticized for mismanaging funds, there is little concern about the federal government’s handling of its share of the federation account, which affects national infrastructure and services like policing.

“As part of our journey towards a restructured federal system that allows states or geographical zones to flourish socioeconomically, we should consider dissolving existing local government areas. States should delineate their own local-governing areas based on demographics, administrative needs, and available financial resources. The current proliferation of local government areas, driven by military rulers from the North, was primarily to receive funds from the federation account without considering viability.

“Granting local government areas direct funding from the central purse has serious implications for rural lands. Local government chairmen in rural areas, dependent on federal allocations, may be pressured into relinquishing land for projects that serve the political or personal interests of the central authority. The RUGA project under former President Muhammadu Buhari exemplifies the potential dangers of such autonomy, which could have led to significant land loss for communities if local governments had been autonomous.

“The Yoruba people in the South-West are still not free from the threat of land subjugation, even with their son in power. It is important to avoid supporting policies simply because they are pushed by someone from one’s own group. While President Bola Tinubu may have good intentions for local government administration, we must be wary of the potential misuse of rural lands by future presidents from other geopolitical zones. The idea of RUGA remains alive in the consciousness of herdsmen in Nigeria, and local government autonomy could provide a legal basis for similar projects in the future.”

I agree no less with Professor Onigbinde! From experience, creation of LGs have not led to development at the grassroots; if anything, it has only democratized corruption, taking it from the top (FG) through the middle (State Governments) to the bottom (LGs) of the country’s leadership ladder! In Lagos where I work and live, don’t we see how LG chairmen live large, abandoning their localities and relocating to VGC or Banana Island? Don’t we see how they compete with governors to send their children to the most expensive schools and acquire choice properties abroad?

*Bolawole (turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533), former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of the Westerner newsmagazine. He writes the “ON THE LORD’S DAY” column in the Sunday Tribune and “TREASURES” column in the New Telegraph newspapers. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

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The NDLEA had filed the 24-count charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/408/2022 against Kyari and two of his siblings; Mohammed and Ali in respect of which they were arraigned in May.

Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling on his bail application, granted conditional bail to Kyari in the sum of N50 million with two sureties in like sum.

Justice Omotosho also ordered that the sureties must have property worth N25 million each within the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, among other conditions.

The judge had, in an earlier ruling, admitted other defendants to bail in the matter.

While considering the bail plea, Justice Omotosho held that there was no evidence that Kyari was a flight risk and the he would not attend trial.

He held that the offence with which the former head of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, of the police and his co-defendants were charged were bailable.

He observed that the NDLEA did not deny Kyari’s claim that he was in Kuje prison during the last prison break, but chose to stay put instead of escaping.

“On the possibility of the 1st defendant attending his trial, it is pertinent to state that, according to the affidavit in support of the application, the applicant stated that he was in detention at the Kuje prisons when the jail break of 5th July, 2022 occurred and he stayed put, even though he had the opportunity of escaping.

“This deposition was not challenged by the complainant/respondent which means it is admitted. This shows that the applicant is unwilling to run away from his trial and has shown willingness to attend court when required.

“This piece of fact will work in favour of the applicant, in that, it is proof to the court that the applicant would not jump bail if grated same. I note that there have been rulings denying the 1st defendant/applicant bail.

“I am, however, minded to grant him bail as he has been in detention for a long time and also based on his constitutional right to bail according to Section 36(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

“He has not committed a capital offence neither has it been proved that he is a flight risk. I therefore exercise my discretion in favour of the defendant/applicant,” the judge said.

Justice Omotosho, however, directed Kyari and his sureties to deposit their international passport, their statement of accounts, the title deed of the sureties’ property and recent passport photographs with the registrar of the court.

The judge held that, even when Kyari meets the bail conditions, the endorsement of his release warrant would be subject to development in a sister case in which he is being tried with four others on drug related offences.

Justice Omotosho held that his release warrant in respect of the case before him, would only be signed if the other pending criminal case before Justice Emeka Nwite is concluded or that he is granted bail in the case.

Kyari had been denied bail twice in the sister case also before the FHC, Abuja.

Omotosho adjourned the matter until October 18 for hearing.

Source: NAN

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Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, held that the court had the exclusive right and jurisdiction to hear drug related cases as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the NDLEA Act

Justice Nwite had on January 18, adjourned for ruling in the application filed by Kyari and three other co-defendants in the suit bordering on drug offence.

The applicants are Kyari, ACP Sunday Ubia, Insp Simon Agirigba and Insp John Nuhu.

They had prayed the court to quash the criminal charge against them in fresh motions on notice filed by their lawyers on the grounds that the suit was incompetent.

They urged the court to stop their trial because they had not been subjected to the internal disciplinary action of the Nigeria Police Council, NPC, and the Police Service Commission, PSC, as provided by the constitution.

They said that the failure of the complainant, NDLEA, to await the disciplinary action against them rendered the charge incompetent and deprived the court of jurisdiction to entertain the charge.

But the NDLEA counsel, Mr Joseph Sunday, opposed the application.

He argued that most of the cases cited by lawyers to the defendants did not relate with Police Service Act, saying the instant charge against the defendant was a criminal matter.

He submitted that the defendants through their applications had not, by way of affidavit or legal argument, established any condition precedence required for the filing of this charge.

“To that extent, their application failed and bereft of any factual evidence,” he said.

Sunday urged the court to dismiss the application and proceed to the hearing of the matter.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Nwite held that the powers of the Police Service Commission did not supersede the powers of the FHC.

He said that the subject matter of the case was within jurisdiction of the court.

According to the judge, Section 251(2)(F) and (3) of the Constitution confers the court the powers to hear and determine the charge.

On September 5, 2022, in a fresh suit filed at the Federal High Court, the NDLEA accused Kyari of non-disclosure of assets.

According to the fresh 24 charge, the NDLEA said Mr Kyari failed to declare his ownership of the property in different locations in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Maiduguri.

The anti-drug agency also said over N207 million and 17,598 Euro were also found in his various accounts in three banks.

Source: NAN

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Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court, Abuja fixed the date after counsel for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Joseph Sunday, and the defence lawyers, presented their arguments for and against the motion.

The NDLEA had filed criminal charges against Kyari (1st defendant) and four of his colleagues who were members of Intelligence Response Team, IRT.

They include ACP Sunday Ubia; ASP Bawa James; Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu, who are 2nd to 5th defendants respectively.

The police officers were charged alongside Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne and Chibunna Patrick Umeibe who were arrested by the IRT officers for smuggling cocaine into the country from Ethiopia through Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.

Although Ezenwanne and Umeibe were convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to the three counts preferred against them by the NDLEA, the five officers pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them.

Kyari, Ubia, Agirigba and Nuhu, in fresh motions on notice filed by their lawyers, prayed the court to strike out the suit against them for being incompetent.

The applicants, through their team of lawyers, which include Hamza N’Dantani and led by Nureni Jimoh, SAN, urged the court to stop their trial because they had not been subjected to the internal disciplinary action of the Nigeria Police Council, NPC, and the Police Service Commission, PSC, as provided by the constitution.

Jimoh argued that the failure of the complainant, NDLEA, to await the disciplinary action against them rendered the charge incompetent and deprived the court of jurisdiction to entertain the charge.

He argued that since the applicants were serving police officers in the employment of Nigeria Police Force, they should be subjected to disciplinary measures by the NPC and PSC with the powers to investigate these offences allegedly committed in the course of the applicants’ duties.

According to the senior lawyer, internal disciplinary action of the Nigeria Police Council and Police Service Commission provided by the constitution against the applicants was a condition precedent before the applicants could be charged by any other security agent/agency.

He said even though the disciplinary action taken by the NPC and PSC had commenced earnestly and the applicants had previously answered queries issued to them by the police authorities before the charge was filed against the applicants, the charge wrongly truncated the disciplinary procedure commenced by these authorities.

He said that the officers were unable to stand trial before the Force Disciplinary Committee because they were held by the NDLEA.

Jimoh argued that the police letter which the anti-narcotic agency relied upon and tagged Exhibit NDLEA 1 for his clients’ prosecution was the letter from an Assistant-Inspector General (AIG) of Police to the I-G which was not directed to the NDLEA.

“It is an administrative procedure of the police. The NDLEA only went and hijacked it,” he said.

According to him, the disciplinary power of the PSC could not be shared with anybody or agency, including the NDLEA.

He urged the court to hold the charge as being premature and grant their application.

But the NDLEA counsel, Mr Sunday, opposed the application.

He argued that most of the cases cited by the senior lawyer did not relate with Police Service Act, saying the instant charge against the defendant was a criminal matter.

He submitted that the defendants through their applications had not, by way of affidavit or legal argument, established any condition precedence required for the filing of this charge.

“To that extent, their application failed and bereft of any factual evidence,” he said.

Sunday urged the court to dismiss the application and proceed to the hearing of the matter.

Justice Nwite consequently adjourned the matter until March 22 for ruling.

Insp. Bawa James, who was the 3rd defendant in the suit, did not file any application in this regard.

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Ezenwanne made the indictment during a cross examination by counsel for Kyari and two others, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court, Abuja.

Ezenwanne and Chibunna Patrick Umeibe were the two drug traffickers who smuggled cocaine into the country from Ethiopia through Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.

They were convicted and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to the three counts preferred against them by the NDLEA.

Nwite had ordered that the three counts, which attracted two-year jail term each, would run concurrently following their plea bargain agreement with the anti-narcotic agency.

They also agreed to stand as NDLEA’s witness in the trial of the five suspended police officers of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, of the Inspector-General of Police headed by Kyari.

Other police officers include ACP Sunday Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu who are 2nd to 5th defendants respectively.

However, they all pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them by the agency in the alleged cocaine deal.

At the resumed trial, Ezenwanne said though he was not a drug dealer, he had only smuggled drugs into Nigeria on two occasions.

When Ikpeazu asked him if he had ever heard about NDLEA before he was arrested on January 19 by the men of the IRT, he responded in affirmative.

READ ALSO: Kuje jailbreak: Court denies Abba Kyari bail

Ezenwanne admitted that before he travelled to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, he knew that the NDLEA operatives were stationed at all international airports to prevent drugs from being trafficked into the country.

“On the two occasions you brought drugs into Nigeria, were you arrested or stopped by NDLEA officers from bringing those drugs into Nigeria?” the senior lawyer asked.

“No,” Ezenwanne, who was the sixth prosecution witness responded.

He said he had never tasted nor tested cocaine before, and that he did not weigh the two bags of cocaine (Exhibits 7 and 8) delivered to him before he brought them into the country.

He said on his way from Addis Ababa, he had in his possession 400 dollars and N11, 000; his (international) passport, his bag with two or three clothes, his ticket and his phone gadget.

“When you got to the Enugu International Airport (on Jan. 19), did you see the COVID-19 agents (the NCDC officers) and Immigration agents?” Ikpeazu asked and he responded in affirmative.

“You saw other agents who directed you to a private room to search your bags?” the lawyer also asked.

Ezenwanne said: “Yes, I saw them (the agents); two men who directed me to a table for searching.”

He said when he was in Addis Ababa, the drug barons who handed him the bags of cocaine took his photograph.

When the lawyer then asked if the reason for taking his picture was to send it to those who would clear him at the point of entry in Nigeria, the convict said he didn’t know why they did that.

Ikpeazu therefore applied for the statement Ezenwanne made at the NDLEA office on January 25 and read a part in the open court where the witness said: “The moment I received the stuff (cocaine) from my people, they will take my picture which they will use to clear way for me at the Enugu International Airport.”

When the lawyer further asked him if it was the statement he made, Ezenwanne said: “It is the statement I made. What I said before was not the same with what I said in court.”

Justice Nwite then admitted the January 25 statement in evidence and marked it as Exhibit 15.

Ezenwanne admitted that he was told by the barons that he would need to have some money with him for “those people that will search his bag.”

He said he gave the agents at the airport N10, 000 to clear him before the police IRT officers arrested him.

Ezenwanne admitted that after they were arrested, they “pleaded with the police to pervert justice by taking all the cocaine in order to allow them go” but the IRT men stood their ground.

“If they had let you go you will not have been angry with them, will you?” Ikpeazu asked.

“No, why should I be angry with them,” he responded.

The senior lawyer also asked him if he had ever had any interaction with Kyari, the 1st defendant, throughout his ordeal, and he said, “no.”

Contrary to what Mohammed Ajia, the 4th prosecution witness and the Commander, FCT Command, said on Wednesday that 80 per cent of the substance tested positive while about 20 per cent did not, Ezenwanne said about 17.5kg which represents about 83 per cent of the substance did not test cocaine after the police handed them to the anti-narcotic agency.

Ezenwanne also said he had never had any interaction with ACP Ubia, the 2nd defendant in the matter.

Earlier when he was being led in evidence by NDLEA’s lawyer, Joseph Sunday, Ezenwanne identified in the open court ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu who are 3rd, 4th and 5th defendants respectively.

When Sunday, who is the director of Legal and Prosecution, asked him what led him to Suleja Prison, Ezenwanne said: “What happened was that on January 15, 2022, I travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bring cocaine with the help of one Iwolabi from Brazil.

“So on January 16, around 8:30 pm Ethiopian time, the flight coming from Brazil arrived. Few minutes after, they called me on phone.

“The first person that called me is one they called Alhaji. He called me and asked where I am. I told him to meet me at the airport lounge.

“He came and handed me over six sachets of cocaine in white cotton and left.

“The second person called me, his name is Ota and asked me the same question which I asked him to meet me at the lounge.

“And he came and handed me four sachets of cocaine in white cotton, making the sum total of 10 sachets of cocaine.

“Then he snapped me with his phone and left,” he said.

According to him, before the time, my second, Chibunna was there before me.

“So we meet there he had already received his own (cocaine packs),” he said.

He said on January 19 around 8 a.m., they boarded a flight going to Enugu International Airport.

“When we arrived at Enugu International Airport, I was the first person to come out of the airport. I stood at the car park waiting for my second to come out.

“When he was coming towards me, one woman and two men intercepted him.

“When I looked at them, it seemed that they were having argument. As I came towards them to know what was happening, there was one car, a Sienna, parked there.

“As I got there, some men jumped out of the car with guns. What I hear was that ‘I did not see this one (that is me).’”

“As they hold me, I shouted ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Is this how it is going to end?’ As they grabbed me and my second, they brought out their jackets with inscription IRT.

“They shared it among themselves and wear it. That was when we knew they were police men.

“Because of the noise we made at the airport, people gathered, they pushed us inside that car and drove us out of the airport,” he narrated.

He said ASP James led the team that arrested them.

Ezenwanne said despite all the offers they decided to give the police officers to free them, they did not listen to them.

“As it was happening, my second, Chibunna, begging them to leave us and carry those stuff (cocaine).

“They snapped me and him (Chibunna) and said by the time you were shouting at the airport, didn’t you know that you will beg,” he said.

The witness said the police officers contacted their boss and they were asked to transfer them to Abuja.

“So they took us in one car, a Toyota Camry, with one woman, three men.

“We left Enugu around 3:30 p.m., when we were moving on the way, we continued begging them.

“The team leader said we should shut up that if we talked again that he would waste us.

“So we closed our mouths, continue praying to God,” he said.

Ezenwanne said all these happened before they were handed over to the NDLEA for prosecution.

Source: NAN

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Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, held that Kyari had not given sufficient grounds for the application to be granted.

The judge said the detained police officer failed to raise new facts in his latest application after being denied the earlier bail request.

Nwite consequently adjourned the matter until October  19, October 20 and October 21 for trial continuation.

READ ALSO: ‘Drug deal’: NDLEA witness testifies against Abba Kyari, others

The judge had, on July 20, fixed today for the ruling on the bail plea filed by Kyari and other police officers charged by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for drug offence.

Kyari had prayed the court for another bail following the attack on Kuje Correctional Centre by terrorists who freed scores of their members.

Kyari and other defendants are being detained in the Kuje Correctional Centre.

On July 5, Boko Haram breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, led an attack on the custodial centre.

The federal government said 879 detainees escaped, including all 68 imprisoned Boko Haram members.

Source: NAN

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On July 5, the Boko Haram breakaway faction Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, led an attack on the custodial centre.

The federal government said 879 detainees escaped, including all 68 imprisoned Boko Haram members.

Kyari and other officers of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP’s, Intelligence Response Team, IRT, through their counsel, told Justice Emeka Nwite that their lives were in danger in the correctional facility.

Moving the motion for bail, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, who appeared for 1st (Kyari), 4th and 5th defendants, said granting his clients bail was a necessity because their lives were no longer safe where they were detained.

He said the officers who had performed excellently well in their profession by apprehending dangerous and high-profile criminals, most of who are in the same prison with them, should not be kept in the facility.

Ikpeazu urged the court to admit them to bail on liberal terms.

Also, Gboyega Oyewole, counsel for the 2nd defendant, spoke in the same vein.

But lawyer to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Sunday Joseph, disagreed with the defence counsel.

He urged the court to dismiss the bail application.

Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until August 30 for ruling.

Earlier in the trial, NDLEA’s lawyer, Joseph, tendered the sum of 61, 400 dollars allegedly used by suspended DCP Abba Kyari to bribe the agency’s officer in the drug trafficking suit preferred against him and four other police officers.

Joseph tendered the cash in the open court before the judge when the third prosecution witness, Peter Joshua, was being led in evidence in the trial of the suspended IRT members.

At the resumed trial, Joshua, who works at the NDLEA, FCT Command as an Exhibit Officer, testified against Kyari and his men.

Justice Nwite admitted the cash in evidence as Exhibit 11 after the defence counsel did not oppose to the application.

The NDLEA had alleged that it had photo and video evidence against suspended head of the Intelligence Response Team, DCP Kyari, who negotiated the release of 25kg of cocaine from the agency in Abuja.

It alleged that Kyari was caught in camera where he offered to give 61, 400 dollars bribe to its officer in his (officer’s) car from the sale of 5kg share of the cocaine on behalf of the officer and the FCT commander.

Kyari, who is the 1st defendant, was arraigned alongside four accused police officers, including ACP Sunday J. Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirigba and Inspector John Nuhu as 2nd to 5th defendants respectively on March 7.

The NDLEA accused the police officers, who had been on suspension pending the hearing and determination of the matter, of alleged compromise.

They were accused of tampering and dealing with part of the 21.8 kilogrammes of cocaine recovered from Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne.

Umeibe and Ezenwanne were the two alleged drug traffickers arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu by the suspended IRT officers led by Kyari based on their suspicious trafficking in hard drugs.

Umeibe and Ezenwanne, who conspired with some other persons (now at large), confessed to the police upon their arrest that they carried the recovered drugs through Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia International Airport on January 19 to Enugu Airport.

The suspects were subsequently brought to Abuja and handed over to the NDLEA for further investigation.

They had pleaded guilty to five, six and seven counts preferred against them by the anti-narcotic agency bordering on importation of 21.35kg of cocaine into the country without lawful authority contrary to and punishable under Section 11(d) of the NDLEA Act, CAP N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The duo, who were later convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment, agreed to testify against the police officers in their ongoing trial.

Source: NAN

The post Kuje jailbreak: Abba Kyari, others seek another bail appeared first on Frontpageng.

Justice Emeka Nwite, in a judgment, said having admitted to have committed the offence preferred against them in counts 5, 6 and 7 by the NDLEA, Chibunna Umeibe, and Emeka Ezenwanne, who are 6th and 7th defendants, “are hereby convicted accordingly.”

Justice Nwite thereafter sentenced them to two years’ imprisonment in each of counts 5, 6 and 7.

He said the terms, which shall run concurrently, would commence from the day the defendants were arrested by the NDLEA.

The two defendants, Umeibe and Ezenwanne, who are 6th and 7th defendants respectively in the matter, are the two alleged drug traffickers arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu by the Nigerian police and handed over to the NDLEA.

They had pleaded guilty to five, six and seven counts preferred against them by the anti-narcotic agency.

At the resumed hearing, counsel for the NDLEA, Sunday Joseph, told Justice Emeka Nwite that two motions seeking for a plea bargain in respect of Umeibe and Ezenwanne had been filed.

Joseph said the motions, dated June 13, were filed on June 14.

Lawyer to the two defendants, E. U. Okenyi also concurred with Joseph’s submission.

Also, counsel for other defendants, including Kyari, did not oppose the motions.

Source: NAN

The post Alleged drug deal: Two Abba Kyari co-defendants jailed two years each appeared first on Frontpageng.

Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date after counsel for the parties in the suit adopted their processes and presented their arguments in the matter.

The federal government has sought for Kyari’s extradition to the U.S. to answer a case over his alleged link with Hushpuppi.

The federal government, through the Office of the AGF, had filed the application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022.

The suit, titled: “Application for the Extradition of Abba Kyari to the U.S.,” was dated March 1 and filed March 2.

While the AGF is the applicant, Kyari is the respondent in the application.

Kyari formerly headed the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

The application was filed under the Extradition Act, as part of Nigerian government’s approval of the request by the U. S. for Kyari’s extradition.

Kyari and six others are currently facing a separate trial on allegations bordering on drug trafficking before a sister court presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite.

Source: NAN

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